History has been a witness to many queens and empresses all over the world for almost over two thousand years from now. The list is long enough to include Cleopatra, Gupta Queen Kumaradevi, Hoysala Shantaladevi, Chandbibi, Queen of Jhansi, Kittur Channamma, Belavadi Mallamma, Queen Victoria etc., each one was famous for a particular aspect.

Cleopatra had a unique personality of attracting men; Kumaradevi was a benevolent queen, Shantaladevi was famous as a dancer, Chandbibi was just a ruler, Queen of Jhansi, Kittur Channamma and Mallamma were heroic queens.

But none of them is famous for the beauty coupled with unmatched political power as Mughal Queen Nur Jahan was.

Mirza Ghiyaz Beg was a nobleman in Tehran and after the death of his father, Beg came to India in search of a job at the prosperous Mughal court. On his way to India, he camped at Kandahar and his wife delivered a baby girl in 1577 AD and was named Mihir Unnisa.

After a month, Beg met the emperor Akbar. Akbar could easily recognise the talent of Beg and gave him a good position.

Bold and daring:
He was a generous person and helped a large number of people. However, he was bold and daring in taking bribes also. He was prepared to do anything to keep his power. Perhaps his daughter inherited this quality from her father. When she was eighteen, she was married to a General by name Sher Afghan. He was noticed by Jahangir who gave him a good official post. Jahangir saw Mihir Unnisa and became mad after her, and he secretly nourished the ambition of marrying her. But she was a married woman. At this point, the historians are divided as to what happened next.

According to some scholars, Sher Afghan (husband of Mihir Unnisa) noticed the secret and wicked ambition of Jahangir and naturally revolted against him. Jahangir was waiting for an opportunity of this type and hence sent another faithful officer to punish Sher Afghan.

Sher Afghan was naturally eliminated. Pretending pity on Mihir Unnisa, Jahangir asked his men to bring her to his harem. Ultimately, Jahangir married this beautiful widow and gave her a new name Nur Mahal, meaning the “Light of the Palace”. She was made the chief queen. Again he changed her name to Nur Jahan, meaning the “Light of the World”.

Matchless beauty:
The contemporary historians have described Nur Jahan as a matchless beauty of fair complexion and a charming woman. She was witty, cultured and highly generous. Above all, she was highly intelligent and had great ambitions. It is said that Jahangir used to sit for days together watching her beauty and charm and it culminated in nothing but infatuation for her. Nur Jahan took full advantage of this weakness of her husband and became the ruler herself.

He immediately gave her the title Badshah Begum and the rights of sovereignty and government. The nobles, Ministers and officers would bow to her and wait to take instructions from her. She signed the government orders as Nur Jahan, the queen Begum and Jahangir stopped affixing his signatures. Thus officially Nur Jahan became the head of the empire. Jahangir would say openly that Nur Jahan would look after the administration and he was satisfied by one ser of wine and half a ser of meat.

To strengthen her position, she minted gold coins in her name. It had a Persian poem meaning “by order of Jahangir gold attained hundred beauties when the name of Nur Jahan Badshah Begum was inscribed on it”. Later when Shah Jahan came to power, he imposed death penalty for the use of these coins.

When she became the unquestioned queen of the empire, she promoted her father and brother Asaf Khan to important positions in the administration. To capture future power, she gave her daughter (by her first husband) in marriage to Mughal Prince Khurram. With Nur Jahan as the queen, these three persons became most powerful and did whatever they wanted.

The administration declined. The older nobles who did not like this sort of wicked men at the peak of the power wrote to Jahangir, “we have not heard of a single king who had become a slave of the will of his wife not only in recent years but even in ancient times”. However, King Jahangir was not in a mood to accept or even listen to this advice, even if given by a thousand noblemen.

Slowly the health of Jahangir deteriorated and the coterie of the four was waiting for the worse thing to happen. His faithful officer Mahabhat Khan kept a vigil over the king and protected him. Nur Jahan fully intoxicated with power began neglecting the emperor and his health but regularly supplied meat and wine to him. She nourished the ambition of declaring herself as the queen without any reference to Jahangir. Jahangir, while returning to Lahore, died in 1627 AD.

The nobles and faithful officers were waiting for an opportunity to disgrace Nur Jahan who had insulted and dismissed many of them. They openly sided with Prince Khurram, the future emperor of the Mughal dynasty. The power and prestige of Nur Jahan vanished instantaneously as if it never existed. She found herself helpless and abandoned. By the intervention of Asaf Khan, she escaped being dishonoured. Thus Nur Jahan faded away and died in 1645 AD.

Though Nur Jahan was a gentle, kind and generous woman, her over - ambition and power - mad stance had created many enemies, particularly among the orthodox noblemen of the medieval period. Thus Nur Jahan is a colourful personality in our history combining beauty and power.